'Battlestar' bikers hit the road

June 13, 2008|By Los Angeles Times

Some of this summer's biggest movies feature motorcycles in supporting roles. There's a Harley-Davidson in "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," an MV Agusta in "The Dark Knight," and multiple customs in the late-summer biker flick "Hell Ride," presented by Quentin Tarantino. While the two-wheel vehicles are all different, the riders are mostly the same. They're men.

One in 10 motorcyclists is a woman, but that statistic is rarely reflected on screens big or small. If an actress does "ride," it tends to be only for the camera, and it's usually rigged, as it was for Renee Zellweger in "Leatherheads," whose Indian was operated by remote.

Enter Tricia Helfer and Katee Sackhoff -- stars of SciFi Channel's "Battlestar Galactica," which has its midseason finale at 9 p.m. Friday. Helfer, who plays the part of sexy cylon Number Six, and Sackhoff, a.k.a. combat pilot Starbuck, are both avid motorcyclists who will be taking their off-screen passion to guest roles on other TV shows when Season 4 of the space-age series ends.

Helfer, 34, is game for doing her own riding on an upcoming episode of the USA show "Burn Notice," playing Carla, a slinky spy who may have figured into the "burning" of ex-CIA operative Michael Westen. According to show creator Matt Nix, he's "trying to find an episode where we can incorporate Tricia's skills."

Sackhoff, 28, will do her own stunts when she plays an anesthesiologist with a fondness for body ink and bikes on four episodes of the FX show "Nip/Tuck." The love interest of Dr. McNamara, "My character rides a motorcycle to work every day," Sackhoff said.

"It's really interesting when writers and producers find out that you ride," said Sackhoff, a self-described tomboy. "They're so excited ... like, wow. We need to use that."

Sackhoff and Helfer took up motorcycling last year because they were each "tired of being on the back of a guy's bike," Sackhoff said. "Then Tricia and I started working together, and we both started going, 'We should do this.' "

Helfer bought a Harley-Davidson; Sackhoff, a Honda Shadow. The two actresses now ride their motorcycles together any weekend they're in L.A. at the same time.

"I kind of feel like I need to take on a role of getting it out there in public knowledge that women can ride," Helfer said. "People assume," she said, before Sackhoff finished her sentence, "that we're on the back of the bike making sandwiches."

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BATTLESTAR GALACTICA

9 p.m. Friday Sci Fi

Katee Sackhoff's Starbuck makes an important discovery in the sci fi thriller's shocking midseaon finale, producer David Eick told TV Guide, and "all hell's going to break loose." The final 10 episodes will air sometime in 2009.